Kingsmeadow - AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Torquay United
18/09/12 - League Two
Att: 3,350
With a week off work I looked down the full programme of midweek fixtures and was determined to attend a match and add another ground to the list, preferably in League Two. Originally the choice was Wimbledon, which temporarily changed to Cheltenham but on Tuesday morning went back to being Wimbledon, a team that I first watched in the 2002/03 season as they destroyed Frimley Green 5-0 in the Combined Counties Premier. Tonight they faced Torquay United in the hope of turning around their poor start to the season.
I had originally planned to catch the train, as I had done on my previous visit in 2006, but with the last train back cutting it fine after the final whistle, I opted to drive to the game. After looking at the directions on Google I made a mental note and set off, with the hope that I'd find the way. After about 40 minutes of driving I arrived in Kingston, where I then got hopelessly lost. After driving around in the frantic rush hour traffic, with my petrol light coming on in the process, panic set in and I succumbed to the help of satellite navigation. It turned out that I was only a few minutes away, so after stopping for petrol I arrived at the ground and parked up for free in a side street.
Set back from the main road the ground isn't visible apart from the floodlights and the big gates that welcome supporters to the ground. From the outside there isn't a great deal to see, with the ground being a bit on the small side with a capacity of 4,850. There's a bar at the back of the Main Stand, as well as a table set up selling the widest range of pin badges I've ever seen in my life, but with a few hours til kick off I decided to leave all this excitement behind and went in search of food, which came courtesy of the local chip shop. Having wolfed down a saveloy and chips I went into the bar to wash it down with a pint, while looking through the programme. With around half an hour to go til kick off I decided to make my way into the ground.
AFC Wimbledon were founded by disgruntled supporters who opposed the re-location of Wimbledon FC to Milton Keynes in 2002. They started life with a trip to Sandhurst Town in the Combined Counties Premier - The ninth level of English football. In their debut season they racked up 111 points, but remarkably only finished in third place. Their average attendance that season was 3,003, which was larger than the crowds turning up to watch Wimbledon FC in their final season at Selhurst Park. In their second season The Dons won their opening 21 matches and were crowned champions with an unbelievable 130 points, finishing the season with 42 victories and 4 draws from their 46 matches. They followed this up with promotion again the following season and went on a record breaking unbeaten run, stretching 78 matches, which is a record for English senior football.
They found life slightly harder in the Isthmian Premier, suffering play off defeats in their first two seasons at that level. In the summer of 2007 Terry Brown took over as manager and won promotion at the first time of asking following a play off final victory over Staines Town. In their first season in the Conference South they achieved a second consecutive promotion after leading the table for most of the season and following a mid-table finish the following season, they defeated Luton Town in the Conference play off final to secure promotion to the Football League, just 9 seasons after forming. They consolidated in their debut season in League Two, finishing a reasonable 16th but this season has got off to a poor start, with just one win and a draw from their opening six games.
Kingsmeadow was originally built in 1989 and was home to Kingstonian, who are still at the ground as tenants to Wimbledon who purchased the lease to the ground in 2003. They charge Kingstonian a lower rate of rent than they were paying before and also play an annual friendly, with Kingstonian taking all the gate receipts and bar takings to help raise money for the club. It's a nice enough ground, but a bit on the small side, with Wimbledon's attendances regularly approaching capacity. Wimbledon's long term aim is to move to a purpose built stadium, but for the short term they've worked hard to bring the ground up to Football League standard. The Kingston Road End was rebuilt recently to add 900 seats to the venue and increase the capacity slightly and the club are currently looking into redeveloping the East Terrace, which is currently a small, shallow, covered terrace which is shared with the away supporters. The Main Stand is another small stand, covered and all seated and runs along the length of the pitch. I'd opted to stand in the Tempest End for this match, which is a covered terrace - Again on the small side, but with no supporting pillars it offered a good view of the pitch and the low roof allowed a good atmosphere to be created. While the ground is on the small side, it was nice to be at a League Two match which had an almost full stadium, which is a far cry from the masses of empty seats that can be seen at most other venues at this level.
As the teams entered the field the seats were mostly taken and the terrace was very busy. There was also a reasonable number of Torquay fans tucked away in the far corner who had made the journey to London midweek. As the game kicked off it was the visitors who settled down quickest, with Wimbledon looking shaky at the back. With the presence of Rene Howe up front The Gulls always had a threat and had plenty of efforts on goal in the early stages, but some inspired goalkeeping from Seb Brown kept the scores level. Ten minutes before the break the deadlock was broken in bizarre circumstances. As the ball rolled towards Brown it was passed on by a defender, meaning he couldn't pick it up. With no option but to kick the ball clear he took a swing at it, but it cannoned back off Howe and rolled into an empty net. Torquay fully deserved the lead, but it was an unfortunate moment for Wimbledon's stand out player of the first half.
In the second half Wimbledon started to press more and came back into the game, but they found clear cut chances hard to come by. There was plenty of good build up play but the final ball was lacking and they were clearly missing the quality of the injured Jack Midson up front, who netted 18 times in the league last season. Piling men forward in search of an equaliser is always likely to leave you exposed at the back and Torquay countered a couple of times, but some more excellent goalkeeping and some slightly wasteful finishing meant the game finished 1-0. There was discontent at the full time whistle as boo's rang out from the home supporters and it proved to be a loss too many for the Wimbledon board, who relieved Terry Brown of his duties after the full time whistle.
Getting away from the ground was easy enough and I was back home by 10:30. It was a really enjoyable visit to a club with a fascinating story to tell. While the ground is very much of non-league standard the locals are very friendly and the large crowds create a good atmosphere in a small venue. I'm glad I made the trip and I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. I just hope they can turn things around and remain in the Football League for at least another season - It's a club that truly deserves to be there.
AFC Wimbledon were founded by disgruntled supporters who opposed the re-location of Wimbledon FC to Milton Keynes in 2002. They started life with a trip to Sandhurst Town in the Combined Counties Premier - The ninth level of English football. In their debut season they racked up 111 points, but remarkably only finished in third place. Their average attendance that season was 3,003, which was larger than the crowds turning up to watch Wimbledon FC in their final season at Selhurst Park. In their second season The Dons won their opening 21 matches and were crowned champions with an unbelievable 130 points, finishing the season with 42 victories and 4 draws from their 46 matches. They followed this up with promotion again the following season and went on a record breaking unbeaten run, stretching 78 matches, which is a record for English senior football.
They found life slightly harder in the Isthmian Premier, suffering play off defeats in their first two seasons at that level. In the summer of 2007 Terry Brown took over as manager and won promotion at the first time of asking following a play off final victory over Staines Town. In their first season in the Conference South they achieved a second consecutive promotion after leading the table for most of the season and following a mid-table finish the following season, they defeated Luton Town in the Conference play off final to secure promotion to the Football League, just 9 seasons after forming. They consolidated in their debut season in League Two, finishing a reasonable 16th but this season has got off to a poor start, with just one win and a draw from their opening six games.
Kingsmeadow was originally built in 1989 and was home to Kingstonian, who are still at the ground as tenants to Wimbledon who purchased the lease to the ground in 2003. They charge Kingstonian a lower rate of rent than they were paying before and also play an annual friendly, with Kingstonian taking all the gate receipts and bar takings to help raise money for the club. It's a nice enough ground, but a bit on the small side, with Wimbledon's attendances regularly approaching capacity. Wimbledon's long term aim is to move to a purpose built stadium, but for the short term they've worked hard to bring the ground up to Football League standard. The Kingston Road End was rebuilt recently to add 900 seats to the venue and increase the capacity slightly and the club are currently looking into redeveloping the East Terrace, which is currently a small, shallow, covered terrace which is shared with the away supporters. The Main Stand is another small stand, covered and all seated and runs along the length of the pitch. I'd opted to stand in the Tempest End for this match, which is a covered terrace - Again on the small side, but with no supporting pillars it offered a good view of the pitch and the low roof allowed a good atmosphere to be created. While the ground is on the small side, it was nice to be at a League Two match which had an almost full stadium, which is a far cry from the masses of empty seats that can be seen at most other venues at this level.
As the teams entered the field the seats were mostly taken and the terrace was very busy. There was also a reasonable number of Torquay fans tucked away in the far corner who had made the journey to London midweek. As the game kicked off it was the visitors who settled down quickest, with Wimbledon looking shaky at the back. With the presence of Rene Howe up front The Gulls always had a threat and had plenty of efforts on goal in the early stages, but some inspired goalkeeping from Seb Brown kept the scores level. Ten minutes before the break the deadlock was broken in bizarre circumstances. As the ball rolled towards Brown it was passed on by a defender, meaning he couldn't pick it up. With no option but to kick the ball clear he took a swing at it, but it cannoned back off Howe and rolled into an empty net. Torquay fully deserved the lead, but it was an unfortunate moment for Wimbledon's stand out player of the first half.
In the second half Wimbledon started to press more and came back into the game, but they found clear cut chances hard to come by. There was plenty of good build up play but the final ball was lacking and they were clearly missing the quality of the injured Jack Midson up front, who netted 18 times in the league last season. Piling men forward in search of an equaliser is always likely to leave you exposed at the back and Torquay countered a couple of times, but some more excellent goalkeeping and some slightly wasteful finishing meant the game finished 1-0. There was discontent at the full time whistle as boo's rang out from the home supporters and it proved to be a loss too many for the Wimbledon board, who relieved Terry Brown of his duties after the full time whistle.
Getting away from the ground was easy enough and I was back home by 10:30. It was a really enjoyable visit to a club with a fascinating story to tell. While the ground is very much of non-league standard the locals are very friendly and the large crowds create a good atmosphere in a small venue. I'm glad I made the trip and I'd recommend it to anyone who hasn't been. I just hope they can turn things around and remain in the Football League for at least another season - It's a club that truly deserves to be there.
Gates outside the ground
AFC Wimbledon
Club shop
Tempest End
Main Stand
Teams line up
Kingston Road End
East Terrace
Main Stand
Panoramic view of Kingsmeadow
